AFrom the province of Segovia, JBERNARDOS has the privilege of operating the oldest slate quarries in Spain with 500 years of history.
Between 1559 and 1562 slate roofers reached Segovia from Europe. The first patron of slate in Spain was King Felipe II, who during his travels in Flanders and Germany between 1556 and 1559 enjoyed the slate covered roofs. Between 1559 and 1562 slate roofers reached Segovia from Europe to work on the royal project of El Escorial Monastery. Del Castillo Slate was chosen for its quality, durability as well as its lead gray color and its characteristic grain. Since then, it has demonstrated its durability and beauty, on the most beautiful masterpieces of Spanish architectural history.
Del Castillo is more than just a slate, it is a phyllite. Phyllite comes from the layers of the preGrauwacke formation from the Pre-Cambrian era whith more than 550 million years of geological history. Argillaceous sedimentary rocks are transformed into Slate through the metamorphic process under the effect of pressure, temperature and tectonic compression. Geological forces can evolve this process of
Del Castillo is more than just a slate, it is a phyllite. metamorphism, then, Slate becomes Phyllite, which is harder and denser than slate. Due to its physical and mechanical properties we produce an excellent roofing slate and we are able to innovate and offer new finishes like honed, polished, flamed or sandblasted... offering solutions like paving, cladding, kitchen tops and especially, glued or ventilated facades, due to the fact that it doesn’t present any risk of splitting.
From our quarries and factory, JBERNARDOS guarantee the best service, controlling quality and selection at all levels of the process, reaching the highest results possible in the standardized tests for the most demanding markets in Europe(CE) and American (ASTM) certi¬cations grading class S1 with 75 years lifetime garanteed as well as the approval of the SRI cool roof. Thanks to our distribution network from all over the world and our exclusive agreement with be natural®, we export Del Castillo´ s beauty, quality and uniqueness to more than 25 countries.
